Treating and coating structural surfaces of machines, such as commercial aircraft, is a long and extensive process. Surface preparation requires a large number of technicians to perform a series of manual operations to clean and prepare the surface before the actual surface coating can begin. Furthermore, coating the structural surfaces includes applying several underlying protective basecoats followed by applying a decorative livery coating over the top. The decorative livery coatings are applied using a complex process which requires a series of masking operations followed by applying colored paints or coatings where they are needed. These masking and painting operations are serially repeated until the exterior surface treatment is completed. Performing these processes on large surface areas, therefore, requires a significant amount of time and resources.